


Day one- Midnight

by CheetahLeopard2



Series: Karushuu week 2020 [1]
Category: Assassination Classroom
Genre: Hellhounds, Karushuu Week 2020, M/M, Urban Fantasy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-14
Updated: 2020-07-14
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:27:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25255375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CheetahLeopard2/pseuds/CheetahLeopard2
Summary: Two immortals slip through shadow and moonlight to see each otherAs is, Gakushuu takes one last look around the riverbank and steps back, appearing to any lost soul who might have happened to pass that he had stepped into the very stones of the archway.Gakushuu emerges from the shadow of a tree by a familiar structure, the figure perched atop it silhouetted by the crumbled moon.Gakushuu scowls- Karma knows full well he has no easy way to climb the old school building to reach him- and mentally flicks at the tether.Karma falls backwards, into the roof, to reemerge from a shard of moonlight to Gakushuu’s left.
Relationships: Akabane Karma/Asano Gakushuu
Series: Karushuu week 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1829671
Comments: 12
Kudos: 47





	Day one- Midnight

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Karushuu week!! I'm really proud of this and hope it's enjoyable!!

Gakushuu wasn’t sure if his dad understood, really. It’s an easy enough fact for him to grasp, but the Principal was a bit more… willingly obtuse, so to say.

Gakushuu’s not his.

Not by any part of birthright, but rather in the way that Gakushuu took painstaking measures to be sure his soul was free of the oppressive force that had become of his father.

Gakuhou wanted Gakushuu to be more than a mini-him, to do better than he ever had.

Gakushuu just wanted to rest.

Perhaps that’s the real reason he’d leapt off the cliff that night- calling voices and bond-tether tugging be damned.

Gakushuu hadn’t wanted to die, of that much he was certain. He wanted instead, piteously, to be free.

It’s something he ponders often, when he walks between shadows. He got his wish, for the most part. It has become endlessly easier to live up to his father’s expectations as he’s been removed as Principal.

It’s also become harder to care. Not because of any loss of enjoyment, nor any slow day to wade through, nor any other sign of impending depression. It’s more that sometimes the things mortals argue about are so _trivial_.

Gakushuu steps out of a shadow by the riverbank, brushing invisible dust off his arm with a lazy flick. The darkness already clings to him enough, he shouldn’t encourage it becoming a visible habit.

The tugging of the bond tether yanks behind his left collarbone, and Gakushuu lets the barest hint of a smile flicker his expression before he tugs back.

He can almost imagine the smirk on his bonded’s face when there’s a harder tug, as well as an enticing rush of cold through the tether that lets Gakushuu know this is a social call.

Gakushuu sighs, rolling his eyes as he steps into the shadow of a nearby archway- if they neither of them ever conceded they’d never see each other.

Or rather, they’d only see each other in forms that are entirely too restrained- passing notes in class and glimpsing each other in the halls, meeting only for homework and gossip. Perhaps the teenage dream, if they were spectacularly mortal.

As is, Gakushuu takes one last look around the riverbank and steps back, appearing to any lost soul who might have happened to pass that he had stepped into the very stones of the archway.

Gakushuu emerges from the shadow of a tree by a familiar structure, the figure perched atop it silhouetted by the crumbled moon.

Gakushuu scowls- Karma knows full well he has no easy way to climb the old school building to reach him- and mentally flicks at the tether.

Karma falls backwards, into the roof, to reemerge from a shard of moonlight to Gakushuu’s left.

Gakushuu’s fairly new to this whole… immortal thing.

Karma, though. Karma’s always felt hell knocking at the gates of his mind.

(He admitted to Gakushuu once- when the warmth of his misery was burning him from the inside out strong enough for Gakushuu to feel tongues of heat licking at the barriers of his mind- that he wishes he had spent less time ignoring the call of hell for him to heel, less time insisting he would be no one’s loyal dog.

“Maybe then,” he had whispered into his arms, crossed over his knees, “Maybe then I could have saved him.”

That was the first night Karma had allowed him close enough for Gakushuu to touch him.)

Karma had been the reason Gakushuu’s true soul emerged.

Karma had been the voice to tempt him over the cliff that fateful night, the one to tug him off the edge of mortal conscience into the Hell he belonged to.

When he confronted the other hellhound about it, both of them ankle-deep in the river of lost souls, guarding the entrance to a fate never meant to be explained nor fully comprehended, Karma brought attention to the tether between them.

They were partners, in any and every sense of the word. Meant to take shifts together and be the constant among the shifting faces and ever-changing landscape of mortal lives and deaths.

Karma had always felt hell knocking at the gates of his mind, yes. But in some sense beyond his coming into the mortal state of existence that preceded the acceptance of immortality, he had always felt the tether holding him together.

Gakushuu didn’t understand at first, that Karma was being crushed. That without the constant his partner was supposed to have provided he was losing himself.

Hellhounds don’t die, not quiet, but they do wither away.

Gakushuu reached understanding rather quickly, after seeing the physical effects wearing Karma down every time he laughed at the notion Karma (much less himself) could be anything but human.

Tonight, Karma had not called upon him so they could go take a shift. Gakushuu knew this already, but had not expected the tightness around Karma’s eyes, the stiffness in the way he’s holding himself.

“Karma,” Gakushuu greeted wearily, “What happened?”

In lieu of a verbal answer, Karma shifted his weight and flicked a hand out distractedly before his gaze, assessing, meets Gakushuu’s.

He must find what he’s looking for, because the next instant Gakushuu finds himself swept into Karma’s arms.

He’s careful not to stiffen, or otherwise express surprise that could be mistaken for discomfort.

Karma has never initiated contact before this. He’s made biting jokes, shown Gakushuu expressions their mortal peers wouldn’t know Karma capable of, let Gakushuu take his hand, but always kept some sort of distance.

Gakushuu suspects it has something to do with how long he took to notice that he’s tethered to Karma, how many times he laughed at the idea of Karma’s very being. How many times he rejected the idea of their partnership as an elaborate fairytale.

Karma’s over 6 feet tall now, a good four inches taller than Gakushuu however much he mock-scowls about it, and Gakushuu can feel liquid fire flickering harmlessly over his skin and clothes as Karma hunches to cry into his shoulder.

He rubs over Karma’s back gently, a concerned sound whined into Karma’s shoulder.

“You won’t leave.” Karma phrases it as a statement, but Gakushuu can pick out the small, fraying thread of doubt in Karma’s words.

“Never,” Gakushuu assures, “Even if you were ridiculous enough to force me away.”

Karma nods, and only when the sun has begun to rise does he pull away, usual smirk sliding into place.

“I’ll see you later, Second-place,” is the only thing left as Karma slides into the last rays of moonlight.

Gakushuu smiles, a carefully guarded contentment settling through his bones.

(He’s decidedly less amused when Karma shows up at his house, though the disconcerted expression his father can’t seem to force down is almost worth the mortification.)

**Author's Note:**

> Please Please comment!!!


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